The Effect of Aquatic Aerobic Training on the Quality of Life on Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease of central nerve system which involves the brain and spinal cord. The cause of this disease is still unknown. This disease causes some disorders in conducting the nerve and electrical currents by destroying the myelin. Thus, due to the vital acuity of the problem, the purpose is to study the effect of aquatic exercises for 8 weeks on the balance improvement in female MS patients.This is an applied research study with a Quasi-Experimental method. The present study was carried out on 45 female MS patients who were randomly selected from 100 MS patients. The subjects, aging from 20 to 50 years old, fell in a range of 4±1 years in terms of duration of illness with a range of 1-5 degrees of illness. They were divided into two groups: Experimental group consisting of 25 patients and the Control group with 20 patients. The Experimental received the treatment as programmed for 8 weeks with 3 sessions per week. The treatment included exercising at a maximum heart beat rate of 40 to 50 percent of intensity. The quality of life (QOL) was determined for both groups of the study before and after the study, using FAMS, Version 2. Finally, the gathered data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and dependent sample t- test. The findings indicate that after 8 weeks of aquatic exercising, the balance was meaningfully improved in the Experimental group (P=0/000). A significant difference was observed in their differences of means from the pre-test to the post-test, in terms of QOL (P=0.000). However, there was no significant difference between the pre- and post-test grades of the Controlled group, in this regard (α=0.05). There was an average of 9.28% of improvement in the Experimental group’s quality of life after the treatment. Such a difference is regarded as remarkable improvement for MS patients.Considering the results of this research, it seems necessary to propose aquatic exercises for MS patients. Therefore, it is recommended these exercises be practiced by the MS patients under the supervision of specialists as a supplementary remedy besides the medical treatments.